Best cocktail bars in Johannesburg.

Top four are the destinations. Middle six are the working rotation. Bottom four are the wildcard picks for a Tuesday or the second stop after midnight.

An upstairs cocktail bar on Tyrwhitt Avenue in Rosebank, run by Julian Short and one of the only South African rooms to hit the World's 50 Best Bars list. The menu is a story arc, six cocktails long. Reservations essential. Closed Sundays and Mondays. The Sin Old Fashioned is the order.

A basement jazz speakeasy under the Hallmark House hotel in Maboneng, modelled on a 1920s shebeen. Live band six nights a week, cocktails built on South African botanicals. The Marabi Punch is the order. Reservation only. Show starts 8pm. Dress smart.

A Sandton speakeasy built on apothecary glassware and a 60-page menu organised by mood. The Mootee Tonic is the easy entry. The Sandton crowd skews business until 8pm, then loosens. Closed Sundays. The corner booth is the best seat. Service runs late, 1am most weekends.

A double-volume Sandton room above the David Higgs restaurant, all marble and brass with a 16-seat counter. Cocktails skew classic but the bartender will improvise. The Saint Martini is sharp. Dress code enforced after 7pm. Best for a Friday before a long Sandton dinner.

A pan-Asian dining room and bar in the Hyatt Regency Rosebank with a cocktail programme that pairs the kitchen. The Lychee Martini is the standard. Bar seats fill first on Thursdays. The dining room is the right call if you want a long sit-down with the drink in front of you.

A rooftop garden on top of the 12 Decades Hotel in Maboneng, with potted ferns and a 360-degree view of the inner city. The Cape Mule is the right pour at sunset. Open from 4pm, closes at 11pm. The Sunday afternoon crowd is half locals, half travellers. Cash and card both.

A live music room on Fox Street in Maboneng named after the Miriam Makeba song. Cocktails built around amarula, rooibos, and South African brandy. The Pata Pata is the house pour. Live jazz on Thursdays, kwaito on weekends. The kitchen runs late and the crowd is local.

A Parkhurst neighbourhood bar on 4th Avenue with a tight cocktail list and a kitchen that backs it. The Parkhurst Negroni is the order. Outdoor seating fills first on cooler nights. Open every day from noon. Closer to a London Soho corner pub than a hotel cocktail bar.

A Newtown microbrewery with a 14-tap bar and a kitchen by Eat Your Heart Out. The Killer Hop IPA is the brewer's pick but the bartender will mix a cocktail off the small spirits list. Outdoor courtyard seats 80. Closed Mondays. The right Sunday afternoon if the weather is mild.

A 44 Stanley courtyard bar in Milpark, set in a 1930s industrial block converted into design studios. The Salvation Margarita is the right call after work. Closes at 11pm. Best on Thursday evenings when the courtyard fills with the design and architecture crowd from the building.

A 7th Street Melville dive that has run on the same room and the same playlist for fifteen years. The Long Island Iced Tea is what most regulars order. Closes at 4am Friday and Saturday. The right answer when Sin + Tax kicks out at midnight and you are not ready to sleep.

A converted Parktown North workshop with exposed brick, a long zinc counter, and a cocktail list that rotates monthly. The Foundry Sour is the order. Closed Sundays and Mondays. The Tuesday two-for-one happy hour before 7pm is one of the better deals in the northern suburbs.

A Melville 7th Street pub built around a long mahogany counter and a Guinness pour that the bartender takes seriously. Live music four nights a week. The Black Stuff is the order. The kitchen runs late. Closer to a real Dublin corner pub than the tourist Irish bars elsewhere in town.

A 70-seat independent cinema in Maboneng with a bar at the back. The drinks list is short, the popcorn is real, and the programme runs South African shorts on Sundays. The Bioscope Sour is the cocktail to order before the film. Closes when the last movie finishes.

Rand Club Johannesburg: 1887-founded Marshalltown gentlemen-club whisky bar with 400+ bottles and a Friday public night. Detailed editorial notes —

Mootee Bar is a Melville cocktail bar built on African-inspired artisanal drinks, where texture matters as much as taste. Its name plays on muti, South African traditional medicine, and EatOut lists it among the city's most original rooms.

Sin and Tax is a Rosebank speakeasy entered through the pizza spot Coalition, the only African bar to make the World's 50 Best Bars in 2019 and still on the 51-100 list. Its seasonal menu pushes a sensory approach to mixology.